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Post by cyberstrike on Dec 2, 2010 16:38:49 GMT -5
Back on topic:
I just finished The Transformers: The Last Stand of the Wreckers a 5 issue mini-series that chronicles the Wreckers, an elite Autobot commando strike (the Autobots' version of the Navy SEALS and Delta Force) team consisting of Springer, Kup, Preceptor, Topspin, Twintwist, Pyro, Ironfist, Rotostorm, Guzzle, Impactor, and Verity Carlo (an EXTREMELY annoying human girl that no one can write well) and last mission to get records out of computer on the Autobots' Prison Planet Garrus-9, so that they can't be used as propaganda against them and only to learn that Overlord, one of Megatron's Phase-sixers (a Decepticon WMD), who left the Decepticons and has taken over the planet in order to have control of a battleground when he thinks that Megatron will find and fight him. Apparently Overlord doesn't know how to use a radio to learn that Megatron is offline.
This series tries to make The Transformers more mature by showing that some of the Autobots aren't much better than the Decepticons in flashback Impactor kills several unarmed and bound Decepticon prisoners. Springer and Twintwsist both get brutally tortured by one of Overlord's minions. The violence is also some the most savage and intense in a Transformers since Marvel's Transformers: Generation 2 series that would be nicer if artist Nick Roche could draw actually draw fight scene that made sense. This series tries to make some good points ("War sucks and is stupid and pointless" "Life goes on", etc.) but feels a bit preachy and is about subtle as a chainsaw saw through a pane of glass, and it feels more cliched than relevant.
The story is more enjoyable if you know a lot of The Wreckers' past incarnations in the Marvel UK series and various convention comics, and that is where the series falls flat there are plenty of nice homages, in-jokes, and references but at the same time, a reader who doesn't know much about the Wreckers and a new reader might find it confusing and downright annoying and it can come off as a glorified fanfic. I will say that I find the character Verity extremely annoying (no matter who writes her) out of all the characters that died, why she couldn't be killed is beyond me, hell WTF she's even in this series is a bigger mystery! She doesn't do anything to help. Don't expect all the Wreckers to survive this is their LAST stand after all.
The art by co-writer Nick Roche, takes a bit of getting used too (Roche is by far my least favorite IDW Transformers artist) he does a good job at dialogue scenes and he does get better with the fights at end but is art at times seems too goofy looking for this series.
Overall: If you're like me a huge Transfan then this is a good or great series depending on your POV, if your a casual Transfan or a casual non-Transformers fan then you should check it out first before buying. I know A LOT of die hard Transfans that say this is the greatest Transformers series IDW has published, I respectfully disagree it's a a series that the creators wanted to be great, but lacks that final thing needed to be great.
Still I think it's still a very good series, but it's not a great series. I give it a 3.5 out 5.
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Post by defiant1 on Dec 2, 2010 16:56:31 GMT -5
I don't think that is unreasonable. These are supposed to professionals. People like George Perez appear to be able to do it. df1 I'm understandable and I know unexpected shit happens (people get sick, family problems, deaths in the family, legal problems, etc) can come out of nowhere and bite you in the ass, and in those cases either let some one fill-in for you or tell the fans, retailers, and publishers what is going on and try to work something out but unless you have one those kind of problems and you're doing a series do that series! That is where the editorial side is lacking. If the book isn't meeting schedule or not up to par, they need fill-in artists to help and complete the book and get it back up to par. In the 70's, if a book was late the reader would get a reprint (filler) instead. The character didn't go unpublished for a month (or 18). df1
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Post by defiant1 on Dec 2, 2010 17:01:33 GMT -5
I don't think that is unreasonable. These are supposed to professionals. People like George Perez appear to be able to do it. df1 And does it VERY well! That's my point. If an artists can't do the work, split the work in half between two artists and pay them each for 1/2 a job. df1
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Post by G on Dec 3, 2010 0:42:39 GMT -5
I'm understandable and I know unexpected shit happens (people get sick, family problems, deaths in the family, legal problems, etc) can come out of nowhere and bite you in the ass, and in those cases either let some one fill-in for you or tell the fans, retailers, and publishers what is going on and try to work something out but unless you have one those kind of problems and you're doing a series do that series! That is where the editorial side is lacking. If the book isn't meeting schedule or not up to par, they need fill-in artists to help and complete the book and get it back up to par. In the 70's, if a book was late the reader would get a reprint (filler) instead. The character didn't go unpublished for a month (or 18). df1 That to me is a big part of professionalism missing from todays comics. Certainly not all comics behave this way, but still there are too many that do. Do I really believe that the comic publishers of the 40's - 80's could ever expect their fans of waiting for the next issue to come out for months? It ran like clockwork back then. If a fill in issue came out or a reprint, at least it showed an effort to get SOMETHING out that made it look like the wheels were still turning and often the next issue after that, the normal artist returned and everything went back to normal. Today we are just left hanging. And no, that didn't start now, it's been going on for the last 20 years. But it's a bad habit comics picked up and I think if I can get fired for not showing up to do my job, artists can get fired for not meeting deadlines. The accountability factor got lessened over the years.
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Post by G on Dec 3, 2010 0:50:26 GMT -5
Back on topic: I just finished The Transformers: The Last Stand of the Wreckers a 5 issue mini-series that chronicles the Wreckers, an elite Autobot commando strike (the Autobots' version of the Navy SEALS and Delta Force) team consisting of Springer, Kup, Preceptor, Topspin, Twintwist, Pyro, Ironfist, Rotostorm, Guzzle, Impactor, and Verity Carlo (an EXTREMELY annoying human girl that no one can write well) and last mission to get records out of computer on the Autobots' Prison Planet Garrus-9, so that they can't be used as propaganda against them and only to learn that Overlord, one of Megatron's Phase-sixers (a Decepticon WMD), who left the Decepticons and has taken over the planet in order to have control of a battleground when he thinks that Megatron will find and fight him. Apparently Overlord doesn't know how to use a radio to learn that Megatron is offline. This series tries to make The Transformers more mature by showing that some of the Autobots aren't much better than the Decepticons in flashback Impactor kills several unarmed and bound Decepticon prisoners. Springer and Twintwsist both get brutally tortured by one of Overlord's minions. The violence is also some the most savage and intense in a Transformers since Marvel's Transformers: Generation 2 series that would be nicer if artist Nick Roche could draw actually draw fight scene that made sense. This series tries to make some good points ("War sucks and is stupid and pointless" "Life goes on", etc.) but feels a bit preachy and is about subtle as a chainsaw saw through a pane of glass, and it feels more cliched than relevant. The story is more enjoyable if you know a lot of The Wreckers' past incarnations in the Marvel UK series and various convention comics, and that is where the series falls flat there are plenty of nice homages, in-jokes, and references but at the same time, a reader who doesn't know much about the Wreckers and a new reader might find it confusing and downright annoying and it can come off as a glorified fanfic. I will say that I find the character Verity extremely annoying (no matter who writes her) out of all the characters that died, why she couldn't be killed is beyond me, hell WTF she's even in this series is a bigger mystery! She doesn't do anything to help. Don't expect all the Wreckers to survive this is their LAST stand after all. The art by co-writer Nick Roche, takes a bit of getting used too (Roche is by far my least favorite IDW Transformers artist) he does a good job at dialogue scenes and he does get better with the fights at end but is art at times seems too goofy looking for this series. Overall: If you're like me a huge Transfan then this is a good or great series depending on your POV, if your a casual Transfan or a casual non-Transformers fan then you should check it out first before buying. I know A LOT of die hard Transfans that say this is the greatest Transformers series IDW has published, I respectfully disagree it's a a series that the creators wanted to be great, but lacks that final thing needed to be great. Still I think it's still a very good series, but it's not a great series. I give it a 3.5 out 5. Nice review! I'm glad to see you do a review. I wouldn't mind seeing others do it. I think the more we review, the more cross-section of readers we hit. We get a new perspective from some one else. As for the review, I have never considered myself a reader or a fan of the Transformers, but your review half way inspires me to check one out. I just think there is too much back story I wouldn't understand to get me far into it. In other words, Transformers always felt to me like a series of characters where you need to be broken in before you can really enjoy them. Unless you were already a fan to begin with. Still, you make it seem worth the following if you put a little effort into it.
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Post by G on Dec 3, 2010 0:55:32 GMT -5
That's my point. If an artists can't do the work, split the work in half between two artists and pay them each for 1/2 a job. df1 I truly admire artists who can get out 2 or 3 comics a month. Hell, I admire anyone who can truly put out 1 a month, month in and month out. I think it takes some real dedication. I think you have to be drawing on your pages when you could just easily go out and party. That's one thing I always vision with comic artists who have already broke in. Since they don't actually punch a time clock, they kinda live by their own rules and timeframes they want to keep. I picture some artists putting off their work in pursuit of personal pleasure and the next thing you know, you have a rush to complete a job by deadline, or worse, a completely missed deadline. I don't think all artists art like this. I'm sure there are quite a few that religiously put their allotted and required time into drawing their pages week after week. But still, I cant help but think there are some real slackers out there too who make their fans suffer because they ain't giving it their all.
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Post by G on Dec 3, 2010 1:01:13 GMT -5
I like what Brubaker has been doing with Captain America. He has 3 rotating artists of similar styles so that the books do not get behind. I agree with this Mike. Captain America has been one of the few Marvel books that I can consistently count on to be an above average product and have done so now for the past 3-4 years. Brubaker has been exceptional with this character. I wish the rest of Marvel's flagships ran half this good on a consistent basis.
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Post by bigw1966 on Dec 4, 2010 9:06:16 GMT -5
I love me some George Perez. But lets be honest here, Perez is no stanger to late books. He has had many problems over the years that have lead to him even being fired from titles. Shoot I remember him doing Crimson Plague which was very popular, but he never finished the miniseries.
Romita jr is one of the only artists capable of getting more than one book out a month. His style has been honed to the point of allowing it. You may think it is simple or scratchy looking, but that is the beauty of it. Every image is solid, every character unique. All of the action is dynamic. There are a couple of others that can do fast work as well, Ryan Ottley who does Invincible is another one. He does nice work. Monthly.
I think things have gotten worse in the last 5 years with the rise of social networks as well as the numerous other distractions out there.
The biggest thing though is that many of these people who we look at and just gape at their work are actually incapable of completeing a 22 page story in one or even two months. Especially at the level of detail that got them hired in the first place. Most of these modern artists are really just pin up guys who are pushed into sequential work. Even my own work like the pages I just posted, I am still trying to find a comfort zone for my work and also get the proper motivation daily. There are days where I can bust out a complete page in one day, and others where I may draw one panel just because I am to distracted mentally or physically to get more than that done. This is true of any artist, but I think some situations exasperate the issue.
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Post by cyberstrike on Dec 4, 2010 9:18:13 GMT -5
Back on topic: I just finished The Transformers: The Last Stand of the Wreckers a 5 issue mini-series that chronicles the Wreckers, an elite Autobot commando strike (the Autobots' version of the Navy SEALS and Delta Force) team consisting of Springer, Kup, Preceptor, Topspin, Twintwist, Pyro, Ironfist, Rotostorm, Guzzle, Impactor, and Verity Carlo (an EXTREMELY annoying human girl that no one can write well) and last mission to get records out of computer on the Autobots' Prison Planet Garrus-9, so that they can't be used as propaganda against them and only to learn that Overlord, one of Megatron's Phase-sixers (a Decepticon WMD), who left the Decepticons and has taken over the planet in order to have control of a battleground when he thinks that Megatron will find and fight him. Apparently Overlord doesn't know how to use a radio to learn that Megatron is offline. This series tries to make The Transformers more mature by showing that some of the Autobots aren't much better than the Decepticons in flashback Impactor kills several unarmed and bound Decepticon prisoners. Springer and Twintwsist both get brutally tortured by one of Overlord's minions. The violence is also some the most savage and intense in a Transformers since Marvel's Transformers: Generation 2 series that would be nicer if artist Nick Roche could draw actually draw fight scene that made sense. This series tries to make some good points ("War sucks and is stupid and pointless" "Life goes on", etc.) but feels a bit preachy and is about subtle as a chainsaw saw through a pane of glass, and it feels more cliched than relevant. The story is more enjoyable if you know a lot of The Wreckers' past incarnations in the Marvel UK series and various convention comics, and that is where the series falls flat there are plenty of nice homages, in-jokes, and references but at the same time, a reader who doesn't know much about the Wreckers and a new reader might find it confusing and downright annoying and it can come off as a glorified fanfic. I will say that I find the character Verity extremely annoying (no matter who writes her) out of all the characters that died, why she couldn't be killed is beyond me, hell WTF she's even in this series is a bigger mystery! She doesn't do anything to help. Don't expect all the Wreckers to survive this is their LAST stand after all. The art by co-writer Nick Roche, takes a bit of getting used too (Roche is by far my least favorite IDW Transformers artist) he does a good job at dialog scenes and he does get better with the fights at end but is art at times seems too goofy looking for this series. Overall: If you're like me a huge Transfan then this is a good or great series depending on your POV, if your a casual Transfan or a casual non-Transformers fan then you should check it out first before buying. I know A LOT of die hard Transfans that say this is the greatest Transformers series IDW has published, I respectfully disagree it's a a series that the creators wanted to be great, but lacks that final thing needed to be great. Still I think it's still a very good series, but it's not a great series. I give it a 3.5 out 5. Nice review! I'm glad to see you do a review. I wouldn't mind seeing others do it. I think the more we review, the more cross-section of readers we hit. We get a new perspective from some one else. As for the review, I have never considered myself a reader or a fan of the Transformers, but your review half way inspires me to check one out. I just think there is too much back story I wouldn't understand to get me far into it. In other words, Transformers always felt to me like a series of characters where you need to be broken in before you can really enjoy them. Unless you were already a fan to begin with. Still, you make it seem worth the following if you put a little effort into it. IMHO if you know little or nothing about Transformers, then you shouldn't read Last Stand of the Wreckers since all of it's characters are second and third string characters hell I never even heard of Ironfist, Rotostorm, and Pyro before this series (this might be because they were all British or European characters). I forgot to mention is that this series marks the official American debuts of Overlord (who was the main Decepticon leader in the Japanese Transformers: Super God Masterforce animated TV series back in the 80s) and Black Shadow who has a cameo in the book and was a Japanese exclusive G1 toy. I wrote that review for a small Transformers fansite because no one else was posting anything in IDW comicss forum there. I wrote a really crappy review about how great Transformers: All Hail Megatron was and and a decent review on great Transformers #1-6 (aka Transformers: For All Mankind) I've been meaning to write a reviews on Transformers: Bumblebee and Transformers: Ironhide. I'm the harshest critic of my own work and writing reviews like that takes a lot out of me physically.
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Post by cyberstrike on Dec 4, 2010 9:34:02 GMT -5
I'm understandable and I know unexpected shit happens (people get sick, family problems, deaths in the family, legal problems, etc) can come out of nowhere and bite you in the ass, and in those cases either let some one fill-in for you or tell the fans, retailers, and publishers what is going on and try to work something out but unless you have one those kind of problems and you're doing a series do that series! That is where the editorial side is lacking. If the book isn't meeting schedule or not up to par, they need fill-in artists to help and complete the book and get it back up to par. In the 70's, if a book was late the reader would get a reprint (filler) instead. The character didn't go unpublished for a month (or 18). df1 It's not just the artists it's the writers as well. Warren Ellis is perfect example of a writer streching himself to far. I understand he wants to make a lot of money so he accepts 20 projects and then he can't do them because he's over extended himself and then the work suffers and it's the same with Mark Millar and Grant Morrison. Some movie and TV shows writers (like Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith) should have all the issues that they are going to write done before their stories are sent to the artist.
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